How We Work
Having someone in your house for a few weeks is a big thing to agree to.
In our experience, most of what people worry about isn't the carpentry. It's not knowing who's turning up, when, or what state the place will be in at five o'clock.
So here's how a job runs with us, from the first phone call to the final clean.
We're Josh and Sean, carpenters working out of Ulladulla and across the South Coast. We're both owners, we're both on the tools, and we're both on site. There's no site manager to go through and no office to ring. You deal with the two of us doing the work.
1. We Come and Have a Look
We'd rather see a job than guess at it, so we'll come out before we put a number to anything.
Bring us whatever you've got. Plenty of our jobs start with someone showing us a photo on their phone and asking whether it's possible. If it isn't, we'll say so. If there's a better way to do it, we'll tell you that too.
What we won't do is talk you into something bigger than you came for.
2. The Quote
Quotes are free.
When we come and look at the job we'll give you a ballpark on the spot, so you know roughly where you stand before anybody spends time on anything.
If you want to go ahead from there, we put a proper quote together. That one's broken into the different parts of the job rather than one number at the bottom of the page, and it goes into the detail on selections and prices so you can see where your money is actually going.
It sets out what's included, what isn't, and anything we've had to allow for. Where there's something nobody can know until a floor comes up, we say so in writing before you commit.
Most jobs run on a thirty per cent deposit, fifty per cent through the build, and the balance on handover. The split shifts a bit depending on the size of the job, and we'll set it out in writing before you commit to anything.
3. When Something Comes Up
Jobs change. You see the space taking shape, and you want a window moved, or we open a wall and find something nobody could have known about. When that happens, we price it as a variation; we tell you what it adds before we do it, and it goes on the final invoice as its own line so you can see exactly what changed and what it cost.
We were pouring a pool recently when the concrete arrived wetter than we needed. As we started filling the walls it began pushing out under the formwork onto the slab we'd just finished. We stopped, left the mix spinning in the truck until it firmed up, then filled the walls in smaller lifts. It took longer than we'd planned. It also came out right.
On a bathroom renovation we missed the exhaust fan ducting at the quote stage. We could have left it as it was. Instead, we did it properly at our own cost, and added it to our checklist so we don't miss it on the next one.
That's the pattern. We stop, work out what the job actually needs, and tell you where that leaves us. What we won't do is push on with something that isn't working and hand you the problem later.
If we uncover something you weren't expecting, you'll hear about it from us the day we find it, not on the final invoice.
4. Your House Stays Yours
It's your house, not a site. Plenty of people stay living in the place right through a job, and we'd sooner work around you than ask you to move out. On a bathroom that means sorting somewhere to wash before the old one comes out, not after.
We start at seven and we're off the tools by three. Gear gets packed away and the place gets swept before we go, so your evenings are your own. Nobody should have to climb over a drop saw to get to their kitchen.
5. Finishing Up
We'd rather stay an extra day than have you ringing us in a fortnight.
On a bathroom we finished recently that meant scrubbing the tiles and grout ourselves before handover, so the client could walk straight into a finished room instead of inheriting a clean-up.
Then we walk you through it. If something isn't right, we come back and sort it.
Ready When You Are
Tell us what you've got in mind and we'll come and have a look.
